Page 28 of Possession

The guy snorted and shook his head. “Unsurprising. For whatever reason, he’s going all out for Tank’s birthday. Go ahead and head on in. Last I saw him, he was near the bar, directing Rooster and Houston on how incorrectly they were hanging a banner.”

That got a genuine smile out of Vinnie. Sounded exactly like his friend. Ollie could be incredibly kind and thoughtful but alsobossyas hell. He’d only gotten to meet his boyfriend, Six, once, but the impression he had of the biker was that he could handle Ollie even at his most bratty. The fact that he was jealous was something he had kept to himself.

He carefully maneuvered his car into an empty spot and grabbed his scarf and gloves—which he’d refused on principle to put on when he’d been ordered to bundle up by that big, burly, sexy-as-sin man wearing nothing but dark jeans, a button-up shirt, and a leather jacket.

Vinnie shivered at the memory of how close he’d stood right before he’d left, caging him in and making him feel tiny and submissive. Things he hadn’t felt in a long time. Things he had no business feeling with some stranger on the side of the road who could have been an axe murderer. He shoved the man out of his head. Sexy, older Latinos weren’t on the menu for the day; Mason was.

He needed to figure out how to fix them, even if Mason didn’t want to. Because he’d realized as they’d gone into their second week apart he needed Mason, even if Mason no longer needed him.

And that was… terrifying.

It had been a long time since he’d allowed himself to need someone. There had been no point after his parents had made it clear they weren’t welcome in their house any longer, kicking him and Mason to the curb and never speaking to them again.

As much as he loved Mason, he’d been the one who was needed, providing the stability that Mason had craved as he slingshot from one job to the next, one Dom to the next, and that’s the way he’d liked it.

But over the last couple of years, things had started to change without him noticing, at least not consciously, but in the back of his head, a part of him had known and had rebelled and then run scared. That same part of him had done its best to ruin the one friendship, the onerelationship, he’d been able to count on for pretty much his whole life.

And even though it still scared him to know that, between the two of them, he needed Mason more than Mason needed him, pretending otherwise wasn’t an option anymore. Acting like he would be fine on his own also wasn’t an option anymore.

The last three weeks had shown him that.

Sure, he’d gone to work and come home and fed himself and bathed, but everything had felt empty, hollow in a way he’d never experienced. Without Mason’s spark of joy keeping him afloat, he’d begun to sink, falling into the depths of meaninglessness and slowly encroaching on despair. He knew it wasn’t fair to put all that on Mason, that he needed to make sure he gave as much as he took, that he fueled that spark, not just coveted it.

At the end of the day, he still needed to make sure Mason took him back. If he wanted to find a third for their relationship, then Vinnie would grit his teeth and agree. There wasn’t anything he could imagine not agreeing to to get Mason back at that point.

As he approached the door of the clubhouse, it burst open, and a group of white men in their forties came tumbling out. They were laughing at something, and Vinnie immediately bristled, wondering if they were laughing at Ollie and the care he was going to give his friend CJ’s husband a fantastic birthday party. When they saw him, they slowed.

The man in the front, with a graying beard and weathered skin, cocked his head. “You looking for someone?”

Vinnie lifted his chin. “Ollie.”

The three of them nodded, wide smiles spreading on their faces. “He’s inside,” the same guy said. “He just sent us to go and get…” He turned to one of the guys behind him. “What the fuck are we supposed to be gettin’ again?”

The man also had a beard, but it was thick and black, just like the long hair on his head. He had to be at least six five and heavyset. He was a sexy bear of a man, but—and Vinnie hated to admit it—he wasn’t drawn to him as much as the man who’d stopped to help him change his tire.

The bear pulled out his phone and read off, “Piping tips. Whatever the fuck that means.”

Vinnie’s eyes widened. “It takes three of you to go buy piping tips?”

The third man, who hadn’t said anything yet, laughed and shook his head. “No, I gotta get to work. These two jokers though, we’ll be lucky if they make it back before the party starts.”

Gray Beard swung an elbow back but missed as the tall, thin man laughed and jumped backward.

Vinnie could barely hold in his surprise. Where were the surly bikers angry about a queer twink invading their space and ordering them around?

“Try the baking section,” Vinnie offered, and they all focused on him.

Dark Beard ran his eyes over Vinnie’s body, subtly but with clear interest. “You wanna ditch setting up and come help us?”

Vinnie pressed his lips together and shook his head. “I should really get inside. The piping tips are for squeezing frosting out of a plastic bag and onto cakes and cupcakes in a specific pattern. They’re usually metal.”

The guy who was going to work nodded hurriedly. “I wonder if Emmett has some. He’s supposed to be coming when he gets off work, right?”

Gray Beard already had his phone out. “He definitely does. Remember those cookies he made last week?”

The other two guys both groaned appreciatively.

“I’m so pissed I only got one,” the skinny guy said, heading off toward a vehicle. “Maybe suggest he make more sometime soon.”

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